It's not acceptable to meet with foreign leaders of countries who allegedly harbor extremists and encourage acts of terrorism. This has been the uproar heard over Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas, Nancy Pelosi's visit to Syria, Ahmadinajab's visit to America, etc. The reasoning goes that these leaders are bad, and until they change their ways, America's leaders should not meet and dialogue with them. If we would agree to sit down and talk with such leaders, as Barack Obama suggests he would do, that, somehow, sends the wrong "message" to said leaders. Simply talking to these leaders would, it is suggested, be condoning these leader's behavior.

I'm attempting to characterize the conservative position on this issue as accurately as I can.

Today, the Pope is visiting the United States. He will meet with the president. He is a foreign leader. His domain is the Vatican, a sovereign entity. The Roman Catholic Church, which the Pope leads, has been terrorizing children for decades. Priests scattered over America have been raping and molesting children for, at the very least, a generation. The Vatican, to it's discredit, has sought to cover-up this terrorism. The Vatican has given shelter to some of these terrorists.

These terrorists, and the sovereign nation responsible for them, teach a radical, extremist doctrine about human sexuality, so perverse and so extreme that it has led to the rampant raping of underage boys by it's proponents. What is this radical extremist doctrine? The celibacy of it's local representatives. The total nonsense of a virgin birth. The rejection of women as equal citizens. The further nonsense of original sin. The even further nonsense concerning the "sin" of human sexuality outside of Church ordained methods. The opposition to birth control.

These are extremist doctrines. Those who follow these extremist Church doctrines are promised eternity with Jesus. Those who espouse these extremist doctrines actually believe and teach that when a priest places a simple wafer in the mouths of believers, that wafer magically transforms into the ACTUAL body of Jesus.

The Pope agrees with all of these doctrines. He is an extremist leader. Those who disagree are simply dismissed as being outside of God's grace and understanding. He is today meeting with George W. Bush. Somehow, this extremist leader and known harborer of terrorists, has what is being called "moral authority".